1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present disclosure relate to a variable shelf apparatus capable of partitioning an internal space of a storage room up and down and a refrigerator having the same, and more particularly, to a variable shelf apparatus capable of being selectively coupled and separated in a storage room and a refrigerator having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator is configured to include a main body provided with a storage room in which foods are stored and a door opening and closing the storage room, in which the storage room is provided with a plurality of shelves which partition an internal space of the storage room up and down, i.e., in a vertical axis, to be able to efficiently store a plurality of stored goods.
Among these shelves used in the refrigerator these days, a variable shelf for storing stored goods at a relatively higher height than an interval between the shelves is present. The variable shelf partitions a rear area of the storage room up and down and includes a first shelf part and a second shelf part with which the first shelf part is slidably coupled.
Therefore, when storing stored goods having a height that is relatively lower than the interval between the shelves, the first shelf part is disposed in front of the second shelf part to partition both of a rear space of the storage room and a front space of the storage room in a vertical direction using the first shelf part and the second shelf part. Meanwhile, when storing stored goods having a height that is greater than the interval between the shelves, the first shelf part is slid back to overlap the second shelf part and then the second shelf part rotates up based on a rear end of the second shelf part together with the first shelf part, such that the stored goods at the greater or higher height may be stored in the storage room.
However, to rotate the conventional variable shelf up, a pair of rotating protrusions formed on an upper surface of the second shelf are seated in a pair of rotating protrusion seating parts formed on an upper surface of the support part, while being exposed. In this case, a member for preventing the pair of rotating protrusions of the second shelf from being separated upward with respect to the support part is not provided separately. Therefore, when a force is applied upward on the variable shelf at the time of withdrawing items placed under the variable shelf from the storage room to the outside, the variable shelf may be easily separated from the support part while being lifted up by the withdrawn items.
Meanwhile, the pair of rotating protrusions and each of the pair of rotating protrusion seating parts are formed on the upper surface of the second shelf and the upper surface of the support part and therefore the second shelf part rotating up based on the pair of rotating protrusions together with the first shelf part is supported by the rear end of the support part, such that the upper surface of the second shelf part may not face a rear wall of the storage room. Therefore, a rear end of the rotating second shelf part is supported by a separate member provided in the front thereof while the second shelf part is spaced apart from the rear end of the support part at a predetermined distance and therefore the rotating second shelf part has a non-available space commensurate with the spaced distance. In this case, when the pair of rotating protrusion seating parts is disposed at the rear of the support part to reduce the non-available space by reducing the spaced distance, a load is concentrated on the pair of rotating protrusions and the pair of rotating protrusion seating parts, thereby shortening a product life cycle.